Mobility to front office vs hiring freeze - is sticking it out here my only option?

Currently in a middle office quant role at a shop with a history of good internal mobility. I'm gunning for a spot on our macro desk & have built good relationships with the right people, but unfortunately (like many places I'd imagine) there's a freeze on hiring for the foreseeable future - don't have visibility on when this would change.

Don't have much long-term interest in my role, but is sticking it out here pretty much my only realistic option? I assume it's a much harder sell to make this move externally, but would it be at all useful to just find people at other shops who are on the kind of teams I want to be joining and emailing them? Would pitching some ideas tip the scales at all here? Any thoughts here much appreciated.

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I was in a similar situation. Really wanted to get into IB while in SS BO. Networked with over 100 folks internally got few interviews and superdays and didn't get a shot. Got really jaded but kept trying. My old boss moved to BS BO, he recruited me and it took a while to decide but I ended up moving. Was fortunate to have built a good working relationship with FO and when position opened up I got the gig.

My advice, try not to tunnel vision although given the circumstances sometimes it appears like the only option. I had someone (old boss who recruited me to BS back office) pull me out of my situation thankfully and things played out really fortunately. External is going to be tough as you're up against seasoned professionals wanting to lateral. But do apply and see what happens. If you network hard and work hard at your current capacity while being easy to work with, you never know what kind of opportunities will present themselves..

Best of luck!

 

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